The present invention relates to gutter covers or shields which prevent leaves and the like from collecting in a gutter and more particularly to a flip-up gutter cover. Gutter covers, guards or shields have in the past been formed of mesh which are presently available commercially for installation on top of the gutters of houses and other buildings for the purpose of blocking the entry of leaves and other debris while at the same time allowing rain or snow melted water to drain into the gutters. Installation is complicated by the fact that such a wire mesh guard, or cover, is commonly marketed in rolled form and must therefore be unrolled or flattened prior to installation. Because of its' wire mesh construction, such a cover is readily deformed, increasing difficulty of installation and, at least in some instances, diminishing the effectiveness of the cover following installation. The usefulness of such a product is further diminished by the difficulty of temporarily removing the cover when it becomes necessary to remove debris from the gutter that manages to enter the gutter despite the presence of the gutter guard.
Efforts have been made to alleviate the later problem by hinging the wire mesh cover upon a gutter, or upon the roof adjacent the cover, so that the hinged mesh cover may be more readily lifted and lowered whenever cleaning of a gutter is required. Typical construction of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,469,841; 2,542,155; 2,841,100; 3,420,378; 3,630,383; 3,834,091; 3,977,135; 4,032,496 and 4,351,134.
While the hinged mounting of such mesh or screen covers does facilitate gutter cleaning, it tends to further increase the difficulty of installation, particularly on gutters of the type not commonly in use wherein the bridging straps extend over such a gutter for bracing and supporting the gutter along the edge of the roof. Furthermore, in operation such mesh gutter covers may be less than satisfactory because deformation of the wire mesh material may interfere with pivital movement of the gutter covers between their raised and lowered positions. The hinges for such gutter covers are generally connected to the outer edge of the gutter and the opposite edge of the screen may be flipped up from its useful position along the roof. These gutter shields have several disadvantages. For example, because some debris will always pass through the mesh cover, it is necessary to periodically clean the inside of the gutter. To do so, a person must reach over the prior art flip-up cover from his already precarious position on a ladder.